Monday Mar 04, 2013

When I was
about five or six years old, I spent a lot of time in the summer practicing
cartwheels in our yard. When I was
seven, I entered a gymnastics gym for the first time, and it was love at first tumble. More than 20 years of my life have been spent
with the sport of gymnastics, and I’m finding out that the sport has served me
well – even in the area of business.

As I started
to compete, we used a technique called “visualization.” With over 48M hits on Google today,
“visualization” was new back then. The
concept is simple – use mental imagery to “see” yourself going through your
routine perfectly. You’re called…you
present to the judge…you mount the balance beam…your toes are pointed…you do
you first tumbling element…perfect stick… full turn…perfect stop at the end…getting
ready for your dismount…deep breath…relaxed…push off the beam…great height…twist…turn…land…stay
tight…no steps…perfect...present to judges…smile…walk off the floor with
shoulders squared.

The concept
of visualization is so powerful because during the process, your brain directs
your muscles to work in a desired manner, creating neural patterns in your
brain that are identical to the actual physical performance of the
movements. This mental rehearsal allows
you to train your mind and body to actually perform the skills. Visualization allows an athlete to improve
self-awareness, increase concentration, focus on purpose, reduce pressures, and
manage his response to a situation.

The same
concepts are a growing trend in many business related fields, but it has
morphed into the term “mindfulness.” Mindfulness originates from Buddhist teachings and is now commonly
incorporated into aspects of western psychology. At its core, mindfulness can be described as
a state of nonjudgemental, present-centered awareness – basically, “being in
the moment.”

Mindfulness
is huge in the leadership field – a Google
search will return over 6 million hits! Mindful leadership simply means giving your full attention to the moment
without. According to Harvard professor Bill
George, mindful leaders “tend to be more effective in understanding
and relating to others, and motivating them toward shared goals. Hence, they
become more effective in leadership roles.”

Mindfulness
can be an invaluable tool for leaders, engaging the part of the brain responsible
for building and sustaining relationships, defining purpose, improving
self-awareness and managing stressful situations. Let’s say that you buy into the concept of
mindfulness and think it can be helpful – how can you practice
mindfulness? WikiHow
provides five steps to get you started:

1) Learn more about mindfulness. Being aware of what mindfulness is can help you understand how you might
incorporate it into your daily activities. With a big thanks to my colleagues, here are some resources that you
might want to check out:

2) Start practicing mindful meditation. No, you don’t need to sit in a dark room and chant “ummm.” Instead, find a quiet spot each day and spend
five minutes focusing on clearing your mind. Pretend all your thoughts are on a blackboard, and your job is to clean
the blackboard so you can start fresh.

3) Practice mindfulness outside of
meditation. Be aware
of yourself and your emotions, but practice removing distractions so you can
focus on the moment at hand.

4) Have gratitude. Recognize those things that you might have taken for granted. Acknowledge the foundations that have been
established that you can build upon.

5) Analyze. When faced with any situation, take into account those things that can
color your judgments – consider your physical body, your feelings, and your
state of mind. Try to remove these
things from the situation so you can make better (i.e. non-biased) decisions.

For me, it
started with visualization to be more aware of my body and my reaction to
stressful situations (e.g. a gymnastics meet). Mindfulness extends this practice to be fully aware of my environment,
including myself and those around me.

General Mills
has introduced mindfulness into their organization, and, as a result, 80% of
participating leaders say that they are able to make better decisions with more
clarity; 89% say that they have become better listeners. Genentech based a training program on the
principles of mindfulness and experienced a 50% increase in employee
collaboration, conflict management and communication and went from “rock bottom”
employee satisfaction scores to one of the best places to work in the IT world.

Is
mindfulness the newest “magic bullet?” Highly
doubtful, but practicing mindfulness does offer the opportunity to think with
clarity, engage in the moment, make better decisions and improve your
performance. And if you’re a leader,
those are not bad traits to model to your team.